All Families Are Psychotic - Douglas Coupland

"Irresistably hilarious, unique and wonderful" Independent On Sunday.

In a cheap motel an hour from Cape Canaveral, Janet Drummond takes her medication, and does a rapid tally of the whereabouts of her children. Wade has spent the night in jail; suicidal Bryan is due to arrive at any moment with his vowel free girlfrien Shw; and there is Sarah, "a bolt of lightning frozen in midflash" -here in Orlando to be the star of Friday's shuttle mission. With Janet's ex-husband and trophy wife also in town, Janet spends a moment contemplating her family, and where it all went wrong. Or did it?

"All families are psychotic, Wade, everybody has basically the same family - it's just reconfigured slightly different from one to the next. Meet my in-laws one of these nights." Wise words from Norm, the smuggler during a covert meeting in Disneyworld. Sound intriguing? It certainly is! This novel is a real rollercoaster, as well as smuggling you will find kidnapping, shootings, drugs, adultery and Aids. But I don't want to give too much away.
Wade is the eldest Drummond son, a loveable bad boy trying to come good with his new pregnant and bible-bashing wife. He shares a close relationship with his sister, Sarah, who was a thalidomide baby born with only one arm, their father Ted's favourite and the reason for the family reunion. Bryan is pretty useless and his dislikable girlfriend Shw is pregnant and planning to sell their baby. Ted is probably the reason for the Drummond family being psychotic, having been abusive to every member apart from Sarah.
Their mother, Janet is the real star of the book, and I felt real tenderness towards her, especially towards the latter part of the book, when through a series of flashbacks we learn her sad story. " She considered herself one of the surviving members of a lost generation, the last generation raised to care about appearances or doing the right thing- to care about caring."
Despite this she throws herself into the farcical crime road trip the family find themselves on, and proves herself to be nothing like the 60's soap opera Mom she considered herself to be. I adored the relationship she formed with the ruthless and amoral Florian, laugh out loud funny.
The family hurt one-another, lie, cheat and belittle, yet they also save one another, and psychotic or not, they are a joy to meet. Dougals Coupland has certainly written a winner.
“People are pretty forgiving when it comes to other people's family. The only family that ever horrifies you is your own.” How true.
This novel is reportedly to be made into a film by R.E.M's Michael Stipe. I can't wait.
"heart-breakingly bitter-sweet...This book will make you want to phone your own psychotic family and tell them how much you love them" Daily Telegraph.